2023 NCAA DII Presidents' Award of Academic Excellence Recipients
There's a very small list of athletic departments at the NCAA DII level who operate on an elite academically, year after year, without fail.
The Hillsdale College athletic department continues to hold a prominent place on that short list.
In December 2023, the NCAA announced its list of Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence recipients, and for the 13th straight year, Hillsdale College was one of 44 Division II institutions to make the cut.
The NCAA hands out the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence annually, recognizing athletic departments for maintaining an Academic Success Rate of 90% or higher.
Not only is Hillsdale one of just eight athletic departments across the country at the NCAA DII level to receive the honor all 13 times it's been awarded by the NCAA, it did so this year by once again posting one of the top ASR percentages in the nation.
For the sixth straight year, Hillsdale finished in the top five among all 304 Division II schools across the country in ASR, which measures the percentage of student-athletes from an institution who either graduate within six years of initial college enrollment or who leave the athletic department on track to graduate and in good academic standing.
The Chargers posted an ASR of 98% in 2023-24, matching its total from 2022-23. That mark was tied for third-best in the country among NCAA Division II schools, just one percentage point behind Bentley University and Saint Michael's College at 99%. Hillsdale was the highest achieving school in terms of ASR in the Midwest Region, and tops among the three Great Midwest Athletic Conference members who made the cut, ahead of Cedarville (95%) and Trevecca Nazarene (94%).
"Congratulations to the 44 schools who have earned this prestigious award," said Steven Shirley, president of Minot State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. "It takes a collective effort from the student-athletes, coaches, university and athletic administrators to earn an Academic Success Rate of 90% or higher, and I'm very excited to recognize these schools."
The 44 Division II member schools to earn the Presidents' Award match the all-time record for the 13-year program, tying the high-water mark set last year.
The Division II ASR includes transfers into a school in the calculation and removes those who transferred out while academically eligible. The ASR also includes the more than 30,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data.
Even when using the less-inclusive federal graduation rate, student-athletes are outperforming their peers in the general student population by 7%. For Division II student-athletes, the federal rate is 60%, while the general student body federal rate is 53%.